James B Cagney, 60125 Wood Cut Rd, Lexington, SC 29072

The Professional Againster
Jimmy

One of Hollywood's pre-eminent male stars of all time (eclipsed, perhaps, only by "King" Clark Gable and arguably by Gary Cooper (I) or Spencer Tracy), and the cinema's quintessential "tough guy." Was also an accomplished if rather stiff hoofer and easily played light comedy. Ending three decades on...

Bill Takacs <[email protected]>

Frances Cagney (28 September 1922 - 30 March 1986) (his death); 2 children

Famous for his gangster roles he played in the 1930s and 1940s (whichmade his only Oscar win as the musical composer/dancer/actor GeorgeM.Cohan most ironic).

Cagney was profiled and interviewed by Jack Perkins on "NBC Magazinewith David Brinkley" in a segment called "Song and Dance Man". It airedOctober 24, 1980 and was repeated and updated the following July 30,1981 telecast.
Stage: Appeared in "The Grand Street Follies of 1928", Booth Theatre, NYC, 1928.
Stage: Appeared in "Women Go On Forever" on Broadway (1927). Written by Daniel Nathan Rubin. Directed and produced in association with John Cromwell (I). Forrest Theatre: 7 Sep 1927-Dec 1927 (closing date unknown/117 performances). Cast: Mary Boland (I), Willard Foster, Edwin Kasper, David Landau (I), Mary Law, Constance McKay, Douglass Montgomery, Myron Paulson, Osgood Perkins, Francis Pierlot Hans Sandquist, Elizabeth Taylor, Edna Thrower, Morgan Wallace (as "Jake"), Sam Wren. Co-produced by William A. Brady and Dwight Wiman.
Stage: Appeared in "Penny Arcade" on Broadway, directed by William Keighley, with Joan Blondell, Millard Mitchell, Don Beddoe, Fulton Street Theatre, New York City. NOTE: This production would lead to the signing of Cagney andBlondell to what would become long-term contracts at Warner Brothers.
Stage: Appeared in "Maggie the Magnificent", with Joan Blondell, Cort Theatre, NYC, 32 performances.

Richard Schickel. _James Cagney: A Celebration._ Boston: Little, Brown &Co, 1985.
James Cagney, with John McCabe. _Cagney by Cagney._ New York:Doubleday, 1976.
Homer Dickens. _The Films of James Cagney._ Revised edition. CarolPublishing Group, 1983.ISBN 0806502770
Ron Offen. _Cagney._ Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1972.
Robert Sklar. _City Boys: Cagney, Bogart, Garfield._ Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press, 1992.ISBN 0691047952

There's not much to say about acting but this. Never settle back on yourheels. Never relax. If you relax, the audience relaxes. And always meaneverything you say.
All I try to do is to realise the man I'm playing fully, then put asmuch into my acting as I know how. To do it, I draw upon all that I'veever known, heard, seen or remember.
My biggest concern is that doing a rough-and-tumble scene I might hurtsomeone accidentally.
[in the early 1960s] In this business you need enthusiasm. I don't haveenthusiasm for acting anymore. Acting is not the beginning and end ofeverything.
They need you. Without you, they have an empty screen. So, when you geton there, just do what you think is right and stick with it.

The Cotton Club (1984)
Hollywood Steps Out (1941)
I've Got to Sing a Torch Song (1933)
Malibu Beach Party (1940)

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938): $150,000.00
Something to Sing About (1937): $100,000.00
Great Guy (1936): $100,000.00

"The Guardian" (UK), 26 June 2004, by: David Thomson, "Rage in motion"
"The New York Times" (USA), 2 January 1998, by: Wilborn Hampton, "A Master at Making Gangsters Likable"
"The New York Times" (USA), 7 December 1997, by: David Hajdu, "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
"Empire" (UK), October 1997, Iss. 100, pg. 196, by: Ian Freer and Jake Hamilton, "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time"
"TV Guia" (Portugal), 1997, Iss. 961, pg. 38

"Irish America" (USA), October 1999, Vol. 15, Iss. 5
"Mon Film" (France), 8 October 1947, Iss. No. 63

James Cagney: That Yankee Doodle Dandy (1981) (TV)
James Cagney on Film (1999) (V)
James Cagney: Top of the World (1992) (TV)
The American Film Institute Salute to James Cagney (1974) (TV)

Close-Up (2011) Drama
L'oeil de Vichy (1993) War
Meurtres à l'Empire State Building (2008) (TV) Crime
13 Rue Madeleine (1947) War
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (2009) (TV) Documentary
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) Film-Noir
The Strawberry Blonde (1941) Romance
Wild Boys of the Road (1933) Adventure
Public Enemies: The Golden Age of the Gangster Film (2008) (TV) Documentary
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006) (TV) Biography